Glucose intolerance was found in four adult chimpanzees. The response of
glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and glucagon to intravenous glucose and tolbutamide stimulations
revealed impaired glucose clearance, deficient pancreatic secretion of insulin and
C-peptide, and elevated glucagon levels. Pancreatic islets in a diabetic chimpanzee were
hypercellular, possibly due to α-cells. Minimal or no insulin was observed in β-cells.
Results are consistent with the occurrence of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus,
which may be more prevalent in chimpanzees than heretofore suspected.
The primary form of immunoreactive glucagon (IRG) in Macaca nigra has been identified as pancreatic, alpha-cell-size glucagon (IRG3500), with a molecular weight of about 3500. Assays with 30K and K-964 glucagon antibodies gave virtually identical results. Column chromatography of plasma on Bio-Gel P-30 indicated ony minimal amounts of high-molecular-weight IRG. Levels of IRG decrease during a glucose infusion, a response expected of IRG3500. IRG concentrations apparently greater than human values appear to be characteristic of nonhuman primates. Nondiabetic Macaca nigra average 641 pg of IRG3500/ml. Borderline diabetic monkeys with moderately increased glucose and impaired glucose clearance average 2,938 pg/ml. Diabetic monkeys with hyperglycemia and diminished glucose clearance have 375 pg of IRG3500/ml. Changes in IRG3500 are related to a lesion in the islets of Langerhans.
Serum proteins of Macaca nigra were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis.
Proteins identified were: albumin, α(1)-globulin, α(2)-macroglobulin, haptoglobin, β(1) Cglobulin,
and γ(1)- and γ(2)-globulins. Diabetic M. nigra had decreased γ(2)-globulin; borderline
diabetics had increased β(3)-globulin.
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